Cape falls to two Techs in extra innings
The Cape baseball team went the distance and more, as they battled to extra innings in back-to-back games, falling to Polytech 8-7 in eight innings and Sussex Tech 3-2 in nine innings.
“These were two heartbreaking losses where we came back twice against Poly and came back in the seventh against Sussex Tech and came up short,” said Cape coach Ben Evick.
Cape took a 2-1 lead after two innings against Polytech, but fell behind after a three-run third inning from the Panthers. The Vikings tied it up in the seventh on a two-run blast by Mason Fluharty. They took a 7-5 lead in the in the eighth only to fall in the bottom half of the inning, as the Panthers put three runs across to take the Northern Division battle.
The Vikings had 10 hits in the game. Ryan Gibbons and Fluharty each had two RBIs, and Timmy Vitella and Logan Dominick each went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Cape pitchers Luke Johnson, Tyler Husbands, Parker Brown, Fluharty and Sean Clendaniel teamed for the Vikings from the mound.
“Our hitters battled against Poly, and Mason Fluharty had a huge home run to tie it for us,” said Evick.
The Vikings dropped a close 3-2 thriller to the Ravens May 8 at Chris Short Field.
“We struggled against a very good pitcher [Matt Warrington],” Evick said. “We finally got to him in the seventh, but we couldn’t score a run in the bottom of the eighth to win it against their reliever.”
A pitching battle between Fluharty and Warrington held until the sixth inning, when the Ravens scored twice on two Vikings errors.
The game remained tied until the top of the ninth, when Ethan Ward got the only earned run for the Ravens by going yard over the left-field fence.
”Parker Brown came in and did a nice job in relief, but made one bad pitch that they took advantage of and hit out to give them the lead,” Evick said.
Johnson and Jackson Ostroski mustered the only two hits by the Vikings.
The Vikings welcome the Seaford Blue Jays Friday, May 10, when the Cape Class of 2019 will be honored.
